RIYADH, 19 February 2007 — Saudi women journalists covering the Janadriya Festival called for there to be more serious and innovative subjects that appeal to women at the annual event that is currently being held in Riyadh.
At a press conference held by Jawaher Abdulall, head of the Women’s Cultural Committee for Janadriya, women journalists expressed their dismay at the subjects chosen for this year’s festival, which primarily focuses on childhood.
Asma Al-Muhammad, a Saudi journalist and editor of the women’s page in a local newspaper, said that childhood was an important issue but discussing the subject in a general fashion is not beneficial.
“There must be some specific issue to discuss regarding childhood, such as the obstacles children face in life and in education. We need to discuss some serious problems that are kept hidden in society like sexual harassment, poverty and many more that really affect children,” she said, adding that there are painful social problems affecting women and that the festival would be the best place to discus such issues.
However, defending the choice of subjects, Jawaher Abdulall said: “We choose the subjects according to their importance in society. Children today are the future of tomorrow.” According to organizers, members of a special committee consisting of six female academics select the subjects each year. The members change each year.
She added that the committee had distributed questionnaires about which topics to discuss and that the results of the questionnaires help decide which subjects are selected to be discussed at the annual festival.
Khadijah Al-Morished, a Saudi journalist working for Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper, said: “We need more interactive sessions instead of just asking women to attend lectures and become bored listening to academics talk for more than an hour and then having a 10-minute discussion session at the end.”
Abdulall defended the event and outlined the amount of money being spent in making the event a success. “When it comes to a lack of audience we can’t blame the committee for not promoting the event but as for women who don’t value culture then the same thing could be said with regards to men as well. We can’t drag people to attend but their national pride should be their motivation,” she said.
Women cultural activities will take place during the first three days of next week and will be held at the King Abdul Aziz Historical Center in the Al-Moraba area. All activities will be held in the evening between 6.30 and 8 and are open everyday except for Saturday. English translation service will also be available at the event.
